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Forget dusty suburban basements: Ping-pong, once the sport of nerds and misfits, is enjoying an unlikely image makeover at the hands (and paddles) of A-list devotees flocking to trendy ping-pong clubs, reports the Independent. At the star-studded opening of exclusive new ping-pong hall SPiN, in New York, Susan Sarandon cut the ropes.

Other fans include actors Ed Norton and Matthew Broderick, who were also in attendance at the SPiN opening. Harry Potter star Emma Watson is rumored to be so intimidating with a paddle that her co-stars refuse to play her. "Table tennis was looked at as being an old-fashioned sport, but we're changing that now," said the head of England's table tennis association. "We've become a lot more cool."